Important Changes to Texas Child Support Laws
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Starting September 1, 2023, child support should be somewhat easier to collect, thanks to Senate Bill 869, which was passed by the Texas Legislature and signed by Gov. Greg Abbott. The new law incorporates changes requested by the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Texas Child Support Division and makes several changes to the Texas Family Code (TFC), including:
Back Child Support & Inheritance
If someone owes child support and inherits property of any kind, they are not allowed to transfer their inheritance to someone else. Instead, their inheritance can be tagged to pay their past due child support. For example, if Jane owes child support and inherits $10,000 in her mother’s will, she cannot transfer that inheritance to a friend or new spouse as a means of getting out of paying the past due child support.
Digitized Signatures
During COVID, many of us used “digitized” signatures on all kinds of documents. The amendment to TFC § 102.0091 allows digitized signatures on waivers of citation in a Suit Affecting Parent Child Relationship. This change should make it easier to get cases started when a waiver of citation is used.
Email Address Updates
Email addresses — and updating them when they are changed — is now included in the mandatory language for all final orders in cases with children. This change should make it easier to communicate with parents after the original final order in a case, as well as making it easier to serve them in future cases if personal service is unsuccessful and substituted service by social media is allowed by the court.
Social Security Disability Payments
If a parent receives a lump sum Social Security Disability payment and, at the same time, their child receives a lump sum Social Security Disability payment solely as a result of their parent receiving Social Security Disability, then the payment the child receives can be credited against existing back child support or back medical expense payments owed by that parent. This fills a gap in TFC §§ 154.132 and 157.009 and changes the law going forward in which a judge refused to allow the lump sum Social Security Disability received by a child to be credited against an existing child support arrearage. TFC § 154.132.
Read on for details on changes to liens, paternity suits and more.
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Carol Wilson provides expertise, focus and compassion in times of family turmoil, having skillfully litigated and tried complex divorce, property division, and child custody cases for more than 30 years.
She has been Board Certified in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization since 1992. Subscribe to the firm's newsletter here.
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About Our Child Support Practice
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Determining child support can be as simple as an algebra equation, but it can get complicated when the paying parent doesn't have a regular salary.
We understand that not receiving child support when it's been ordered, or not being able to pay child support, can be stressful. At the Law Office of Carol A. Wilson, we understand Texas law regarding child support and work efficiently and productively to achieve the solution that's in the best interest of our clients and their children.
Read on to learn more about our child support practice.
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The highest compliment I receive is your referrals. If you know someone in need of assistance in a family law matter, please don't hesitate to share my contact information: carol@cawilsonlaw.com and 214-303-0142. Thank you!
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